How Liz Taylor Saved Monty Clift’s Life

On May 12, 1956, Anglo-American film actress Elizabeth Taylor and her second husband Michael Wilding threw a dinner party at their Beverly Hills home. It was a bad night for a party. For the first thing, it was foggy and the Wildings lived up a long and winding road in Benedict Canyon. For the second thing, the Wildings’ marriage was on the rocks. Elizabeth was having an affair and Michael’s out-of-control drinking had led to several indiscretions with other women.

The guest of honor was to be Father George Long, a hip priest who ran with the Hollywood set. Rock Hudson and his new wife Phyllis Gates were invited. So was Kevin McCarthy, who was then making “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”

Montgomery Clift was another actor on the guest list. That spring, he and Elizabeth were shooting the MGM Civil War melodrama, “Raintree County.”

Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor in "Raintree County" (1957)

(Elizabeth had just finished filming “Giant” which would be released in October of that same year.)

Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson in "Giant" (1956)

Monty and Elizabeth had become best friends in 1951 during the filming of “A Place in the Sun.” Monty affectionately referred to Elizabeth as “Bessie Mae.” She was his confidante. Monty Clift was a rising star, known for his sensitive and brooding portrayals of troubled young men. He was very intense and deeply serious about acting.

"A Place in the Sun" (1951) with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor

At first Monty declined the invitation at Liz’s. He was awkward being around the Wildings while their marriage was so bad. But he changed his mind and agreed to join the group for dinner, leasing a car and driving up the mountain road to the Wildings’ house.

The party turned out to be a terrific bore. The guest of honor didn’t even show. Michael Wilding wasn’t feeling well and spent the evening lounging on the couch, saying virtually nothing to the company and acting aloof. That made Elizabeth nervous so she was unusually chatty. Monty grumbled about the way the MGM director Edward Dmytryk was shooting everything in “Raintree County” in giant close-ups. He was depressed and angry. He sensed the film would be a colossal disaster.

The party broke up about midnight with Monty and Kevin bidding each other goodbye in the driveway and taking off down the road Elizabeth called a “cork twister.” Kevin was in the lead. Within minutes, Kevin was back at Elizabeth’s house, ringing the bell. Monty Clift had had a serious car accident. His car had struck a utility pole as he rounded one of the hairpin turns in the fog. Elizabeth shrieked and demanded that Kevin immediately take her to the scene.

Since the 1950, many unflattering things have been written about Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor who is now a Dame of the British Empire, and much of it was justified. (She tended to steal people’s husbands.) But what was to happen next on that foggy stretch of midnight road below her house was to be Elizabeth’s finest hour.

She and Kevin arrived at the wreck:

“Monty’s car was demolished, an ‘accordion-pleated mess,’ Elizabeth said. A 4,800 transformer, knocked off the pole by the impact, had narrowly missed hitting the car. McCarthy thought his friend was dead. ‘The doors were so jammed that we couldn’t get to him,’ he said.” (1)

Broken glass was everywhere – but that didn’t faze Elizabeth. She climbed in the car through a back window.

Elizabeth called out to Monty. He reacted to her voice and indicated to her that he was choking. Several of his teeth had broken off and had lodged in the back of his throat. Reaching inside his mouth, Elizabeth pulled the teeth out, one by one. Elizabeth saved his life. Monty could once again breathe.

It was nearly an hour before an ambulance arrived and, with it, a handful of frenzied photographers. Elizabeth positioned herself between the stretcher carrying Monty and the photographers’ cameras. “She was remarkable,” said McCarthy. She told the photographers that if they so much as snapped one photo of Monty’s bloodied face, she’d never allow her to take another photo of her. (That would never do. Elizabeth Taylor was one of Hollywood’s top actresses and would become one of the most photographed women in the world.) The photographers backed off.

The car accident left Elizabeth with persistent nightmares. She couldn’t get Monty’s bloody face out of her mind.

Understandably, filming on “Raintree County” was put on hold as Monty underwent a long hospitalization and painful facial reconstruction. Despite these efforts, Monty never looked as beautiful as before. His face remained scarred and partially paralyzed. This was the beginning of Monty’s long and deadly slide into alcohol and drug addiction. He became a wrecked man.

Marilyn Monroe, who appeared alongside Monty in the 1961 film, “The Misfits,” described him as

“the only person I know who is in worse shape than I am.”

Monty’s post-accident career has been called “the longest suicide in Hollywood history.” In 1966, ten years after his car accident, Montgomery Clift died alone in his New York apartment while watching “The Misfits” on TV. He was only 45.

(1) Mann, William J. How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers, 2009.

28 Responses

What an amazing story. It’s quite the image of Liz climbing into the wrecked car — especially imagining her in high heels and a full ’50s skirt, which it’s hard to imagine she wasn’t wearing at the time.

Liz Taylor in person is one of the most generous and thoughtful people in the world. Back in the same era, she was going through LAX with husband number four, Eddie Fisher. Fisher grabbed a bunch of magazines without paying telling the overwhelmed cashier dealing with a large crowd, “I’ll send someone with money” because he didn’t want to wait. A few minutes later Liz came up carrying the magazines, waited her turn, and paid telling the cashier, “I believe my husband forgot to pay for these.”‘

Wow, I’ve heard this story many times but it never gets old. Elizabeth Taylor is incredibly resilient. She’s outlived so many of her friends and witnessed the untimely deaths of a lot of them, her husband (Michael Todd) included. I’m sure part of the reason there aren’t any photos of Montgomery after the accident is because of the time it took place. Can you imagine such a demand of privacy being heeded by the paparazzi of today? At least back then, photographers had some restraint and a modicum of decency.

It’s a shame such a handsome man took such a quick spiral downwards. Even though he wasn’t as gorgeous as he was prior to the accident, he was still a really good-looking man, better than most even after the accident. And he certainly was still a great actor. In the end he just couldn’t pick himself up and move past what happened. R.I.P Montgomery.

Monty Clift became addicted to painkillers in the aftermath of his accident. Back in the fifties, doctors weren’t careful about prescribing such dangerous substances. Little was known about how addiction would swallow up a person and ruin his life. I have not seen Monty Clift in The MIsfits but the stills indicate a damaged face.

[…] pulled the teeth out, one by one. Elizabeth saved his life. Monty could once again breathe.” (source) Monty & Bessie Mae (how he called her) Monty & Liz looking flawless A publicity still for A […]

I’m very familiar with this story, and I think the truly sad part is that Clift was much more masculine-looking and ruggedly handsome AFTER the accident. He relied on pretty in his early career and it was mistaken for intense acting, his “new” face was infinitely more interesting.
So sad.
RIP, Dame Elizabeth. You and Monty and Mike Todd and Richard Burton and, yes, even Michael Jackson are all reunited now.
You were a lady from the ground up.

Monty Clift became reliant on pain killers following the accident and the many subsequent surgeries. He became unstable and continued on a downhill spiral. His professional life suffered as a result. Even Marilyn Monroe thought he was in worse shape than her – psychologically.

It’s so sad what had happened to him. Such a gorgeous and amazing actor and he let it go to waste. I wish he appreciated his wonderful gift. Even after the accident, he was still handsome-only in his eyes, he didn’t see it. I’ve watched almost all of his movies now and I think that he could’ve made even more beautiful movies if he lived longer. I wish he would’ve kknow the dangers of drinking and the addiction to pills. It’s even sadder that he died watching The Misfits-which was very good by the way. His secretary said that his bedroom door was locked and he tried to open his door but couldn’t get it open. He went through his apartment window and found him on his bed with his fists clenched. How sad. I cried when I found out. I wish I could have live back then to actually have seen him face to face. We miss you Monty.

I believe that Monty was a product of his times. Homosexuality was just about the worst thing any man could be accused of. For one thing, it was illegal in those days and further, if it became known, or even rumored, it was the end of one’s career. How does someone cope with hiding his own essence, his own being, but to turn to alcohol and drugs. Rock Hudson, I believe suffered in the same way. Is it any wonder that the “dark and brooding” man emerged on the screen?

We has so much to br thankful for.These people gave so much that they didn’t have a whole person left. They got lost in the process of being who we needed them to be.In this altered state,they lost their own personas and passions. Every time they smiled for the cameras,they gave us pieces of themselves. You rarely see ungarded smiles or unstaged expressions- these people were working at being what the public supposed them to be.What was left to bring them joy and happiness?

Montgomery Clift was a gay man dealing with prejudice in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s. He also had Crohn’s Disease with little know cures for Crohn’s in those days. He suffered in silence; you can see it in his acting if you look close enough.

You all are just repeating by rote what was written in the bios and accepting these things as the truth……these bios were written for the dollar and not for the veracity of Monty’s life….they concentrated on his alleged excursions into the world of the gutter……I doubt this bios and have done my own research and most of the bios are bs…..Please don'[t believe all that you read and feel you are experts on Monty……all these books do is sully his reputation.

Elizabeth urged him to leave even though he didn’t want to. One could easily say he “died” because of her. Either way it doesn’t change the fact that Clift-Taylor was one of the most beautiful screen couple, and Clift is the best method actor ever (one might say Brando was, but Clift’s role had much more depth and he went much more into his role than Brando did).

Actually, according to Monty’s manservant, when asked if he wanted to watch ” The Misfits “, he replied, “Absolutely not”,
the last words ever heard from him, the singular actor of his generation. Absolutely!